Kathmandu, September 8
Social activists and climate campaigners gathered in Kathmandu on Friday to protest and present their demands ahead of the G20 Summit in India.
Simultaneous protests took place across various Asian cities, including Manila, Jakarta, Dhaka, Kathmandu, Karachi, Lahore, and Colombo.
“We strongly urge the G20 to commit to concrete measures to address the multiple crises faced by peoples of the global south. As a grouping, the G20 not only has massive resources but also bears historical responsibility for developing countries being mired in indebtedness, fossil fuel reliance, extraction of natural resources, and exploitation of their peoples’ labour,” said Lidy Nacpil, coordinator of the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD).
A representative from Rural Reconstruction Nepal (RRN), Suresh Tamang, called on the G20 to deliver new, additional and non-debt-creating climate finance, surpassing the unfulfilled USD 100 billion a year pledge.
“The global south needs and is justly entitled to much more than USD 100 billion per year in climate finance based on equity and fair shares. G20 governments, responsible for excessive levels of carbon dioxide emissions, also have an obligation to pay reparations for the losses and damages suffered by those in the Global South, who are the least responsible for the climate crisis,” said Tamang.
Activist Sadhikshya Chauhan also called on the G20 governments to cancel the debt for all countries facing a debt crisis, including public debts of questionable and fraudulent nature that violated human rights and contributed to exacerbating the climate crisis.
Chauhan pointed out that the G20’s Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI), limited to less than half of developing countries, has proven grossly inadequate in matching the depth and breadth of the debt crisis.
The protestors said its successor, the Common Framework for Debt Treatments beyond DSSI, fails in providing debt relief and still absolves the private sector from responsibility, allowing bailouts with new loans from multilateral institutions.
Sudhir Shrestha, representing the South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication (SAAPE), urged G20 leaders to stop obstructing progress towards a UN Tax Convention.
“We need a tax deal that centres on the needs and concerns of the peoples of the Global South,” said Shrestha.
